Sometimes return to this game for old time's sake but quickly stop playing when I remember why it's infamous. There might be some strategies which work better than others but overall it's pure luck whether you'll have a shot at winning or not.
Such as that time that I started out in Madagascar and lost because no ship ever left their harbour.
Interesting concept but I think the walking takes too long. The puzzling is interesting but having to circle the planets multiple times turns the game from casual fun to tedious.
Fun game which is somewhat brought down by design flaws which have become more obvious over the years. While I enjoy the game I do find myself wishing for some quality of life improvements, chief of which are the ability to reset your skill points, a more detailed bestiary for the spirit beasts and possibly raising the level cap since it feels a tad redundant when you already have a limit to how many points you can put into each stat.
Hmmm... It may be fun as a very short distraction but the sluggish controls make me just want to get the BotD and move on. Which might be a good thing since the rest of the comments here are indicating that after that very short distraction it quickly turns into an exercise of frustration as you're left hoping RNG allows you to survive.
I started out in Madagascar and despite minimal visbility they still closed their shipyards before it spread to anywhere else.
That's about the point where I quit playing.
Important to remember: it's better not to cover the entire field. There'll be enough bugs that unless you're really unlucky half or one third is enough, and if you cover too large an area the bugs will come faster than you can eat them.
Honestly the game would already be significantly less frustrating if two things change: taking orders wouldn't take so much time and having the customer rate your product wouldn't take so much time. In all of these games I end up being rated as tardy because I'm afraid of delivering the finished products until there's nothing on a timer.